As the iPhone's popularity continues to soar, Apple's mobile handset revenues alone place the business among the largest in the world, exceeding companies like Microsoft, Intel and Coca-Cola.

Apple's iPhone unit would be the ninth largest company by revenue in the Dow Jones Industrial Average if it were a component of the famous market index, according to data collated by Businessweek. Cupertino's handset business raked in more revenue over the preceding 12-month period than mutual fund mainstays Microsoft, Boeing, and Procter & Gamble, among others.

Today ? just shy of seven years after its introduction ??the iPhone unit's $88.4 billion in annualized revenues not only dwarfs those of American corporate icons like Nike and Coca-Cola, but is nearly three times as much as Apple itself recorded for the entirety of the company's 2008 fiscal year, the first full year of the iPhone's availability. The figure also bests the rest of Apple's products, including the Mac, the iPad, and iTunes, combined over the same period, according to the report.

When late Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPhone in 2007, he set the standard for the smartphone's success at capturing one percent of the global mobile phone market. Now, the iPhone commands more than 7 percent of the market while reaping more than 60 percent of the profits.

Apple's new flagship iPhone 5s and mid-range iPhone 5c ? which debuted to record sales of 9 million last weekend ? may widen the gap between Apple and other perennial blue chip stocks even more. New features, like the innovative Touch ID biometric security system, and expanded distribution with anticipated new carrier partners like China Mobile, the world's largest wireless provider, have many analysts pushing expectations for Apple's future earnings even higher.

Originally Posted by ealvarez
Some analysts would say it's a bad news : )

Actually, it makes Apple a one trick pony on the revenu side. A miss on an iphone refresh has the potential to trim half of the stock price because of the iphone weight on EPS.

This is why I keep pushing for more iphone models. We will have the "low cost" next year when the 5c drop to $400-$450. But I wish Apple would make a bigger screen size option so that people wanting this dont go buy other phones.

They also dominate the profits in PC sales, tablet sales, personal-media-player sales, and media-extender sales. If not the most profitable digital media services company certainly one of the most prolific and well known, but most importantly it helps tie all their services and devices together in a way that no one has come close to matching. How the hell is that "one trick"?

Apple would need to expand hugely if it wants/needs to capture more of the market -- as it is, Apple's contractors can't supply enough inventory to satisfy demand. Apple would probably need to start up its own factories and then we'll have people complaining Apple is getting to be like Microsoft and demanding these assembly plants be based in the USA, where the next Mac Pro is due to be assembled. I am absolutely dreading the likely cost of a new Mac Pro (£2500+ for base model?) to replace my 8-core early-2008 model and am seriously considering buying a 27" iMac.

One trick pony? Hardly, they make money in all their businesses. However iPhone is a major revenue stream. And messing with that revenue stream is ill advised. They have done well with the continual upgrades and with avoiding following every whim of their competitors. Every call of, this one will be a failure has been met with resounding success so far. While nothing can last forever, cheering for the failure makes one look foolish. (Not saying this is what you are doing.) Apple does well with their own market analysis and they continue to improve their offerings. Send in your suggestions, but don't expect everything you think to be important to resonate with the millions of other people out there. Apple is obviously doing something right, they cannot make their phones fast enough... If anything, that is their main problem, they cannot build enough product to keep up with demand. Which is a good problem to have indeed.

NoahJ"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." - Mahatma Gandhi

Don't see google on that list but there stock continues to rise and sits around $900 a share. Man, google must have been OF THE CHARTS and way more profitable than any of those on the list. Atleast, that's what investors must think.

we're going to get a lot of these comparisons in the next few months%u2026

The next will be Apple's iPad revenues compared to all the PC makers in the world%u2026.

It always amazes me that the Dow 'can't' put Apple into the DJIA, because it's TOO BIG. It shot past all the 'dogs' (those that typically get replaced), and now would so unbalance the Dow that it would be the "Apple Industrial Average," if you tried to replace just one company with Apple, or the resultant divisor would be so out of whack that a 1 dollar Apple up or down would make the markets crazy volatile.

And they would be right. Partially. It is definitely no good for a company to have all the eggs in one basket; they shouldn't be relying on a single product to bring in the majority of their revenue. I think that is what analysts are saying. Fortunately the iPhone 'isn't going anywhere' and will remain a profitable business for the unforeseeable future, but Apple really needs to be on top of things, and make all products profitable. Fortunately that is what they're doing, but some analysts aren't seeing this bigger picture, possibly because they're narrow-minded.

And they would be right. Partially. It is definitely no good for a company to have all the eggs in one basket; they shouldn't be relying on a single product to bring in the majority of their revenue. I think that is what analysts are saying. Fortunately the iPhone 'isn't going anywhere' and will remain a profitable business for the unforeseeable future, but Apple really needs to be on top of things, and make all products profitable. Fortunately that is what they're doing, but some analysts aren't seeing this bigger picture, possibly because they're narrow-minded.

They would not be right based on the information in this article alone. For all you know, the ipad is an even bigger money generator. And the Mac makes even more money (we know both aren't true, but I am talking about the logic of your statement based solely on the information provided in this article).

Until we know how much money Apple makes in other business lines, it is impossible to call them a 1 trick pony.

Actually, it makes Apple a one trick pony on the revenu side. A miss on an iphone refresh has the potential to trim half of the stock price because of the iphone weight on EPS.

This is why I keep pushing for more iphone models. We will have the "low cost" next year when the 5c drop to $400-$450. But I wish Apple would make a bigger screen size option so that people wanting this dont go buy other phones.

I'm sure Tim Cook listens to your every word with baited breath. Apple got to where it is by ignoring the advice of experts. Let's hope that attitude continues indefinitely.

Whoahaha, Blackberry had been so successful like Apple? No. Blackberry was a Gadget Hype, while Apple defines new integrated standards for devices, OS, Services and Apps. BB is just a manager gadget company without deep impact.

Someone help me out here....cnet is reporting that iOS 7 is installing on people's phones without their permission. And they show a tweet from someone who claims iOS 7 installed on their phone while they were sleeping. Is this really possible? Can iOS 7 just install on someone's phone without their permission?

Actually, it makes Apple a one trick pony on the revenu side. A miss on an iphone refresh has the potential to trim half of the stock price because of the iphone weight on EPS.

This is why I keep pushing for more iphone models. We will have the "low cost" next year when the 5c drop to $400-$450. But I wish Apple would make a bigger screen size option so that people wanting this dont go buy other phones.

Someone help me out here....cnet is reporting that iOS 7 is installing on people's phones without their permission. And they show a tweet from someone who claims iOS 7 installed on their phone while they were sleeping. Is this really possible? Can iOS 7 just install on someone's phone without their permission?

I didn't think that was possible; at least, it didn't happen with my iPad - I had to explicitly tell it to do so.

And they would be right. Partially. It is definitely no good for a company to have all the eggs in one basket; they shouldn't be relying on a single product to bring in the majority of their revenue.

This is a valid concern for any company.

Quote:

I think that is what analysts are saying.

Unfortunately I don't see that as what is happening here. I just see old fashion stock manipulation.

Quote:

Fortunately the iPhone 'isn't going anywhere' and will remain a profitable business for the unforeseeable future, but Apple really needs to be on top of things, and make all products profitable. Fortunately that is what they're doing, but some analysts aren't seeing this bigger picture, possibly because they're narrow-minded.

Narrowed minded might be one aspect, stupidity is certainly another. However I think evil intent is the primary motivator.

Yeah because effectively iPhone is a better device for most people, as music playback simply becomes another function. It is much harder to see how Apple will kill off the iPhone. This is why expansion into other markets is so important, they need to better balance income streams to prevent any product sales regressions in the iPhone business have a massive impact on income.

Here is the thing, at some point new stuff to put into an iPhone will dry up. If there is no new and shiny then Apple becomes open to competition. Right now Apple is effectively a technology leader with the iPhone, their position will change dramatically when they run out of new tech to put into iPhone. Thankfully there is little to indicate that Apple will have a technology problem in the next few years.

Actually, it makes Apple a one trick pony on the revenu side. A miss on an iphone refresh has the potential to trim half of the stock price because of the iphone weight on EPS.

This is why I keep pushing for more iphone models. We will have the "low cost" next year when the 5c drop to $400-$450. But I wish Apple would make a bigger screen size option so that people wanting this dont go buy other phones.

Would your advice to BMW, Porsche and Mercedes be that they need to come out with low cost economy models to compete with Kia and Hyundia ? Possibly start making pickup trucks?

Someone help me out here....cnet is reporting that iOS 7 is installing on people's phones without their permission. And they show a tweet from someone who claims iOS 7 installed on their phone while they were sleeping. Is this really possible? Can iOS 7 just install on someone's phone without their permission?

It is downloading onto phones automatically. It is NOT installing without permission. The gripe is that the update takes up about 1GB and the complainers what to know how to delete the download.

we're going to get a lot of these comparisons in the next few months%u2026

The next will be Apple's iPad revenues compared to all the PC makers in the world%u2026.

It always amazes me that the Dow 'can't' put Apple into the DJIA, because it's TOO BIG. It shot past all the 'dogs' (those that typically get replaced), and now would so unbalance the Dow that it would be the "Apple Industrial Average," if you tried to replace just one company with Apple, or the resultant divisor would be so out of whack that a 1 dollar Apple up or down would make the markets crazy volatile.

It depends on what you mean by "too big". The DJIA is weighted based upon share prices, so AAPL at
$480 would have an inordinate effect on the average, when most of the others are below $100. AAPL is not too big based upon market cap. Note that Exxon is a DJIA component and it has been higher in market cap than AAPL most of the time. If AAPL were to split its stock 5 to 1 and bring the price down to around $100, then it would not be "too big" anymore. (Not to say I think they should or that it would even make it likely for AAPL to be added to the DJIA)

Someone help me out here....cnet is reporting that iOS 7 is installing on people's phones without their permission. And they show a tweet from someone who claims iOS 7 installed on their phone while they were sleeping. Is this really possible? Can iOS 7 just install on someone's phone without their permission?

It is downloading onto phones automatically. It is NOT installing without permission. The gripe is that the update takes up about 1GB and the complainers what to know how to delete the download.

It happened to my iPad3 and iPhone5 when they were plugged in to the charger. Unless there is a preference setting somewhere I don't know about, IOS seems to default to something like "download updates when not busy" for system updates. I still had to push the install button to actually install the software. That part was not automatic.

This is a valid concern for any company.
Unfortunately I don't see that as what is happening here. I just see old fashion stock manipulation.
Narrowed minded might be one aspect, stupidity is certainly another. However I think evil intent is the primary motivator.
Yeah because effectively iPhone is a better device for most people, as music playback simply becomes another function. It is much harder to see how Apple will kill off the iPhone. This is why expansion into other markets is so important, they need to better balance income streams to prevent any product sales regressions in the iPhone business have a massive impact on income.

Here is the thing, at some point new stuff to put into an iPhone will dry up. If there is no new and shiny then Apple becomes open to competition. Right now Apple is effectively a technology leader with the iPhone, their position will change dramatically when they run out of new tech to put into iPhone. Thankfully there is little to indicate that Apple will have a technology problem in the next few years.

If you think of it as a phone, or even a computer in your pocket, you may see limits where there really shouldn't be any. If you change your thinking to see this as an all-purpose knowledge-gathering, amplifying and broadcasting device the limits fall away. This early obsession with lightweight applications like texting, talking and facebooking is just temporary.

Eventually we'll be doing live video communicating or watching from around the world, for example, or looking at live pictures of Earth from space, for another example.

Apple isn't just selling phones any more than the second generation of book publishers were just selling Bibles. They're selling digital electronic mind amplifiers. We're only at the very beginning of a new media revolution, a 500-year event. The last one was the portable book/newspaper/magazine, not from Gutenberg by the way.

Apple seems to be the only ones that get this, thanks to the likes of people like Steve Jobs and Alan Kay.

It is downloading onto phones automatically. It is NOT installing without permission. The gripe is that the update takes up about 1GB and the complainers what to know how to delete the download.

I assumed that's the way it was but the way cnet (and others are reporting it) it makes it sound like iOS 7 is being installed without people's permission. Of course I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they'd misreport something to make Apple look bad.

It is downloading onto phones automatically. It is NOT installing without permission. The gripe is that the update takes up about 1GB and the complainers what to know how to delete the download.

I assumed that's the way it was but the way cnet (and others are reporting it) it makes it sound like iOS 7 is being installed without people's permission. Of course I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they'd misreport something to make Apple look bad.

It must be misreporting, one needs to agree to the terms and conditions with every single update. I can not believe Apple would screw this one up by auto installing and updating. Nor bugs, like weirdo lock screen unlocking is one, but this? No